


Turning Point

by misura



Category: Samurai Deeper Kyo
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-07
Updated: 2012-08-07
Packaged: 2017-11-11 15:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/480014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A parting of ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turning Point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



> any and all historical inaccuracies are hopefully covered by the tags. um.

"I'll go," Yukimura says, and their father looks more annoyed than anything else - it's hurtful, in a way. It's hurtful in many ways, but then the expression on Nobuyuki's face is so very, very neutral that Yukimura might almost believe he's only imagined that flash of relief.

Of course, it's anyone's guess what Nobouyuki is relieved _about_ , exactly.

Yukimura's always been just enough of a gambling man to make people underestimate him, to keep them guessing whether he's doing something very smart for not at all obvious reasons, or doing something not at all smart in the hopes that he'll get lucky.

"I'll go," he repeats, since nobody else seems to have anything to say. "I'll join Tokugawa Ieyasu."

"You think you can take up arms against people you call 'friends'?" There is very little conviction in their father's voice, and it occurs to Yukimura to wonder if Toyotomi is expected to lose - if Nobuyuki is the favored son being sent away for his own safety.

Nobuyuki would never agree to it (and thus is relieved at Yukimura's intrusion?).

"Oh, but surely Nobuyuki has friends here, too?" Too easy, to deflect that one.

There are ten plus two people Yukimura wishes to protect in this encampment, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi is a likeable person. In a battle of hundreds upon hundreds, twelve is not so many.

Besides, Yukimura is fairly certain it will take stronger words than he is capable of speaking to convince Saizo and Sasuke and the others to remain behind, while he saunters off towards the lion's den.

(And there's an idea, isn't there? Get close enough to Tokugawa Ieyasu to kill him, and do it smartly enough not to lose his honor or any of his beloved ten friends in the process.)

"You believe you can convince the Tokugawa you've had a complete change of heart? That you'd turn against your own family?"

Nobuyuki still hasn't spoken. "And what were _you_ going to tell them, hm?" Yukimura asks.

"You are occasionally very vexing," Nobuyuki says, and he might be smiling, just a little bit. "And Tokugawa Ieyasu is a great man. A skilled warrior."

"Such high praise," Yukimura says, and he is only half-joking. "I'm surprised you haven't changed sides already, dear brother."

Nobuyuki flushes slightly, and for one dizzying moment, Yukimura experiences a hint of doubt, a half-formed question if perhaps their father's plan will not be taxing Nobuyuki's acting skills all that greatly, if perhaps this plan is merely a thinly disguised attempt to sweeten something bitter.

"Your brother understands the gravity of the situation."

"My brother," Yukimura says, smiling broadly and putting an arm around Nobuyuki to pull him closer, "is a very honorable stick in the mud." Nobuyuki doesn't pull away completely, although there's a certain amount of resistance.

Still, one of them may very well be gone, come morning, and for all their differences, they are still bound equally strong by blood and affection.

"Not a very good liar at all, I'm afraid," Yukimura goes on. "Whereas I ... well."

Nobuyuki's resistance turns serious. Yukimura holds him back for three heartbeats, just to show he can, and then lets go. "You're not - " Nobuyuki starts, furious and indignant and Yukimura wants to hug him all over again, because for every five times that Nobuyuki is stiff and cold and boring, there's one time when he's like this.

"I have every faith in Nobuyuki's ability to do this," their father says, and that is quite clever, really, to make it sound as if this is about _ability_ , as if Yukimura is casting doubt on Nobuyuki's skills.

Of course, it's a tactic that leaves one rather ample opportunity for a counter attack. "But none in mine?" Yukimura cocks his head, smiling.

"You _hate_ Tokugawa Ieyasu, Yuki," Nobuyuki says softly. Gently. As if Yukimura is the one needing to be protected from his own sense of honor here.

"I'm sure I could pretend not to hate him long enough to chop his head off."

Nobuyuki makes a muffled sound. Yukimura would like to think it's a laugh, for all that his words were intended quite seriously. Nobuyuki doesn't laugh nearly enough.

"This isn't about chopping someone's head off. This is about _family_. Nobuyuki knows his duty."

A rather ugly implication there, but it's late and they've none of them enjoyed a lot of sleep lately.

"What about _my_ duty? I'm supposed to simply stand idly by while my brother betrays our family? Really, I do have my reputation to consider." Reputations will be made or broken by whomever will emerge victorious out of this war, of course.

"You'll act angry in public. Betrayed. Saddened."

All such very familiar emotions, if not first-hand. Yukimura hates and grieves in private; in public, he celebrates. It's why he's assumed to have more friends here than Nobuyuki.

"If he goes, I'll follow him," Yukimura says, because threatening to give away the whole plan to the Tokugawa is one step too far, one step he's not quite willing to take yet. Their father might understand, but Nobuyuki would be angry. Betrayed. Saddened.

Where Yukimura goes, the Sanada Ten will follow. Twelve of the Sanada against the cream of the Tokugawa. Tempting to call it an almost even fight, but contrary to public expectation, Yukimura is very well capable of resisting temptation. He simply chooses not to, more often than not.

"Then go," their father says, looking tired and defeated. "Go alone, and prove yourself."

Nobuyuki looks shocked, then relieved, then so very, deeply guilty that Yukimura feels he must hug him again - for luck, not that he should need more than a pinch of it. Nobuyuki doesn't resist the contact at all, this time, which says everything, really.

 

Sekigahara is bloody, its perfection only marred by the fact that Tokugawa Ieyasu is still alive and breathing and (quite rightly) convinced Yukimura should like for both things to cease being so.

In the heat of battle, loyalties matter less - Yukimura fights for the joy of it, losing himself in the glory of it, only distantly aware that every man he kills is one less to stand against the Tokugawa.

(He'll grieve for them later, in private - and for himself. For Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who is a likeable man.)

And then, of course, there is Kyo.


End file.
